Road to Deneva
by Starsinger
Summary: How did Jim meet Kitty, Gloria and become a Doctor of Medicine. What about McCoy. This is my prequel to Deneva.
1. Chapter 1

**Road to Deneva**

by Starsinger

**I'm just now realizing that I'm within a few chapters of completing Deneva, and I'm a little sad, some nearly forty chapters later. Did not anticipate it being THIS long. lol So, I'm experimenting again with this prequel. Let's face it, Jim loved Kitty, but we've never met her. What endeared Gloria enough to Jim for him to take her home to Frank. And how is it Frank is the nice guy instead of the drunk asshole that we all know and hate. Well, here we go. Don't own them.**

Frank sighed, Winona was drunk, again. He looked down at two pairs of eyes who looked at him imploringly to keep them safe from their drunk Mom. Jimmy already cradled his arm protectively. Frank shook his head. Jim and Sam had saved him. When he married their mom, he'd been just as much a drunk as she. They had begged him to stop after a doctor told him that if he didn't stop he would be dead in a few years.

"I WANT THESE BRATS OUTTA HERE!" Winona shouted. "JIMMY DROVE HIS DAD'S CAR OFF A CLIFF…"

Frank had had enough. He knew why Jimmy did what he did. "That's it, Winona. GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! I'll take care of Jimmy and Sammy, you won't EVER have to see them again." He pushed her out the front door and locked the door behind her. He stomped upstairs and called the police before coming back down with blankets. He wrapped Jim up in one and told Sam to come with them. They were headed back to the hospital. He programmed the destination into the hovercar's navigation system and cradled the nine year old against him. The boy whimpered, "It's going to be alright, Jimmy, I won't let her touch you again."

They sat in the hospital for four hours waiting to see the doctor. Frank was adamant, he wanted the injuries documented. He was tired of playing around, Winona didn't deserve these kids. The doctor took pictures of the bruises and bumps on both boys and the compound fracture of Jimmy's left arm. Winona had pushed, more like launched, him down the stairs when she learned what he had done. "He's going to need surgery, Sir. Compound fractures can't be fixed by a simple run under the regenerator. His calcium level is low too."

"You need to keep him here?" Frank asked.

"Yes sir," the intern told him nervously.

"Can we stay with him?" Frank asked. The doctor nodded as the police tracked him down.They took Frank's statements and doctor's own observations. CPS finally arrived and Frank allowed them access to Jim's and Sam's medical records. All could be tracked back to when Winona was on world. Nothing happened when it was just Frank looking after them.

Frank lay in a cot beside Jim's bed, he was going into surgery the next day. He had decisions to make, and he could only think of one way to resolve the situation. Sam would be going back to a boarding school in the morning. George, Winona's late husband, had a sister on a colony planet, Tarsus IV. He spent the next day making arrangements to get Jimmy to his Aunt's house so he could settle things here in Iowa. Denise was more than happy to take Jim in. Unfortunately, Frank would discover months later, it would be the worst decision he'd ever make when it came to the boys he'd come to love as his own.


	2. Tough Times

**Tough Times**

by Starsinger

**Well, went from depressed, if you saw "Once Upon a Time", I don't need to explain especially if you've seen the episode from last night, and I ain't spoilin! To excitement, Karl Urban is going to be at Dallas ComiCon. I don't think I need to explain THAT one either. I'm going to introduce Gloria and other characters that Jim is going to interact with, but, most of this saga will take place from Frank's point of view as he fights for Jim, and then finds himself with a broken heart as the Tarsus IV saga as he fears for the boy that he loves. Don't own them.**

Denise and Alex, Jim's aunt and uncle, awaited their nephew on Tarsus IV. There were several settlers coming from various colonies and Earth. Jim walked off the shuttle, his arm still in an immobilizer, and Denise came forward to meet him, "Hey, Jim, you probably don't remember me, you were an infant when we came for your Dad's funeral."

Jim smiled up at his relatives. He had brought little with him. It wasn't that Frank didn't want him to have anything, it was just that Frank wasn't planning on Jim being there longer than six or seven months. Denise looked up to see Frank barely touching down on the Tarsus soil. "Hey, Denise, thanks for taking him in," Frank said.

Denise smiled, "Thanks for being so good to him and Sam. I don't know how many men would do this for a stepson."

Frank smiled down at the boy, "He's special, Denise. He's meant for great things, like his father." Frank knelt down in front of Jim, "Be a good boy, Jimmy. The lawyers say this shouldn't take all that long, but I just want you out of your Winona's reach until this is settled, okay?"

Jim nodded his head and threw his arms around Frank's neck, "I love you, Frank."

"I love you too, Jimmy," Frank returned the hug. Denise watched as this good man turned around in the hatch to look at Jim before returning to find his seat. The hatch closed with a sigh and everyone moved to a safe distance as the shuttle started its return trip back to the stars.

The first place that they stopped was at a local clinic, Denise wanted the doctors to check over the arm before they did anything else. "It's healing fine," Dr. Harrison, the Chief Pediatrics doctor told them. "He can't do any heavy lifting with that arm, so be careful." Denise nodded, their next stop was the local elementary school. Jim tested into the fourth grade.

"He's a little above average," the Principal told them. "That's fine. He can go at his own pace here."

They got home and Jim met his cousins, Reba and Sonny. They had the run of the land around the family farm. His cousins eagerly showed him his room. Jim had made up his mind. He was determined to be normal, and average. He was determined not alienate everyone by being "too smart". Didn't matter that he'd already graduated from high school and had started college back on Earth. He could transform himself. First thing was first, he changed his name slightly, he wanted to be known as JT.

Everyone understood. They realized that he wanted a fresh start. No one questioned what he wanted to do. A few days into his sojourn he met two people who would change his life. Gloria Sanchez lived next door, relatively speaking. She was a wild girl a few months older than he was, and smart as a whip. They got along famously, and ended up in the same class together at school. He helped her with homework, and she showed him survival techniques in and around the woods near their farms. The other person he met was Hoshi Sato. The ancient linguist was full of wisdom, tea, and a gift for languages that he soaked up like a sponge.

Gloria and Jim knew something was wrong when the crops started failing, then martial law was declared by Governor Kodos. The last transmission he got off to Frank was simple, "Call Starfleet, something's wrong. We're starving."

Jim and Gloria survived, along with fifteen others in that square that day. Only nine would be left who knew Kodos' face when Starfleet arrived. They escaped into the woods. Jim mourned the loss of his Aunt and her entire family. Gloria cried over the deaths of her parents and four siblings. Jim carried a young boy named Kevin as they all made their silent way out of the square and toward the relative safety of the woods.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Frank knew something was wrong. He received weekly calls from Jimmy for the first three months. He was slowly moving through the complex court cases that involved his getting custody of Jimmy and Sammy, and Winona fought him tooth and nail every step of the way. The transmissions dwindled to every couple of weeks. Then, after five months, he'd heard nothing.

Frank finally came home with the court papers in his hands. The boys were his. Winona could never hurt them again. A friend of their father's, Christopher Pike had come back with him to help celebrate and get Frank on the next transport out to collect Jimmy when he saw a message awaiting him marked urgent. He opened it up and Chris watched as all the blood drained from his face. "Frank, what is it?" Frank could find no words as he showed the message to Chris. Chris was on the comm to Starfleet, "We haven't received word from Tarsus IV? A friend of mine just received this message from his son." Frank's chest swelled with pride over that word, and at the same time it constricted with pain.

Frank stumbled into the living room, unable to listen to the rest of the conversation. He looked up as Chris exited the other room, "Well?"

"I'm being recalled to check out what is happening there. One of the outlier ships that makes regular runs to the colony never made it, and it's gone missing."

"I'm going with you," Frank said heading upstairs. Chris took a breath to argue, but knew it was useless. They'd have at least one family member on board who could relay back to other anxious family members what was going on. If the transmission was true, the shit was about to hit the fan.


	3. Heartbreak

**Heartbreak**

by Starsinger

**Chris and Frank arrive, and they are horrified by what they find. Don't own them.**

Chris wouldn't allow Frank or any of the other family members to beam down to the planet. They needed to get the place secured. Frank spent anxious hours waiting for word. Hoping there would be word. Chris finally called for him to be beamed down, and one of the medics escorted him. The stench of death and despair was omnipresent. Hope had probably been one of the first things to go. They question remained, why hadn't Kodos called the Federation before things had gotten so desperate?

They arrived at the Governor's palace, everyone who wasn't Starfleet looked emaciated. Chris walked up to him, "Frank, I need you to be strong. We've found Jimmy, but it's not good." Frank pushed Chris out of the way and headed toward the litters he could see being set up. He found Jimmy lying on his stomach, a medic treating wounds that looked like whip marks on his back.

"Jimmy?" Frank asked. "It's okay, I'm here."

"Dad?" came the faint voice. Tears started rolling down Frank's face at the use of the name. "Get my kids, please. They're in the forest beyond the farm lands. Gloria, tell Gloria that you're JT's Dad, Frank. I knew you'd come for me, you promised."

Frank clenched his fists in helpless rage. Jim was skin and bones, the wounds on his back looked infected, "Take care of him, PLEASE," he told the medic.

It took hours for them to find the hide-out of the kids. They wouldn't even come out for the Starfleet uniforms. Finally, Frank raised his voice, "Gloria, JT told me to tell you that his Dad, Frank, was here."

"Are you Frank," came the small, frightened voice.

Frank sank to his knees, "I am." A small body impacted his, sobbing. Many small figures approached cautiously. All of the Starfleet personnel knelt down as the kids approached. One medic held out a ration bar, proffering it to the nearest child. It was snatched out of her hand. The little girl, wearing rags and was very dirty, tore open the wrapper and very carefully nibbled at the bar. It seemed that no one needed to warn them not to eat too fast. Frank got the little girl to sit on his lap and eat what they brought.

"How's JT?" she asked. "He went out to find food two days ago and hasn't returned."

Frank sighed, "He's not good, Sweetheart, Kodos caught him and treated him very badly. Do you know if Kodos is still alive?" she shook her head. "What about your parents?" again she shook her head. "It's okay, I'll make sure you're taken care of," he promised. She, again, hugged him. A shuttlecraft flew overhead and landed in a nearby clearing. They gathered the children and got them aboard. Several of the most critically ill were aboard, including Jimmy. Frank walked over to his stretcher with Gloria still attached to him, "Jimmy," he whispered, "We found them. They're safe."

Jim opened his eyes and looked at Gloria, his hand reached out momentarily to touch her, "Good." He closed his eyes.

The USS Hood stayed in orbit above Tarsus IV for nearly two months. They found remains that they thought were Kodos', but no one could be sure. Frank hovered nearby as they took care of Jim. Gloria also stuck near them as she started to fill out and her bones became less prominent. The wounds on Jim's back had become infected. It was a moment that, years later under similar circumstances, Frank feared he would lose the boy. He called Sam and kept him updated as well as Jim's grandparents. No living relatives were found for Gloria, and he applied for custody of her, having grown attached to the little imp.

Gloria horded food, all the kids did. She horded ration bars, figuring real food would go bad quickly. Since it was rations she horded, he ignored it. He made sure that he was in sight of her whenever they were awake. She suffered from separation anxiety, understandable considering that her entire family had been decimated in front of her. Many of the kids had picked up caregivers, nurses and counselors mostly, who were with them most of the day.

Jim's recovery was long, and it broke Frank's heart. He lay on his stomach in the hospital bed while a clear, sterile dressing covered his back. The doctors told him that there would always be scars, there was nothing any of them could do about it. They changed the dressing twice a day and Frank made sure he was there every time.

Then the wounds became infected, and Frank had to wear protective gear. They weren't afraid he'd catch what Jim had, it was the other way around. Jim's immune system was compromised, he didn't need what Frank might have. Jim's fever raged as they fought to keep him alive. Chris came by many times to offer support, but there was nothing anyone could do, but hope, and pray if they believed in a God. Two of the survivors were Vulcan, and their cousin, Ambassador Sarek, stopped by to see how Jim was doing. He had saved the kids' lives, and for that, he was grateful.

The Hood left for Earth, and Jim, Frank, and Gloria left with it. Jim would spend the better part of a year in the hospital in San Francisco. He grew to hate it, but he also understood it. It was there that he decided he wanted to become a doctor.

**Next up, we catch up with everybody else. We'll start with McCoy. Everybody's favorite grumpy old man!**


	4. Grumpy Old Man

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**Grumpy Old Man**

by Starsinger

**Okay, I don't mean that literally, but you know what I mean. We're introducing McCoy. He's fifteen years old, and he's mean, a bit of a bully baby in fact, and Momma McCoy ain't having it. The survivors are coming from Tarsus IV and well, he'll get the lesson of his life. Oh, he's getting a few more middle names than he has. Makes him feel even worse when Hannah comes down on him. Don't own them.**

Leonard McCoy grew up in privileged family. He had two parents who loved him. He had a pesky big sister, Anna, who never had a problem putting him in his place. His father, David, was a lawyer with a local family firm with his uncles and the paternal Grandfather who oversaw the whole operation from a retired position.

The privilege of the position came with friends who were in the same clique. They were all rich, handsome, and reasonably athletically inclined. The group wasn't afraid of throwing their weight around, though. The younger and smaller set were often victims of their tactics. They were never obvious about it, but they made their presence known.

Unfortunately, an unfortunate eighth grader found himself on the receiving end of a sophomore prank as he found himself hanging upside down from the school's flagpole instead of the flag. Momma McCoy wasn't having any of it. The principal of the high school sent pictures of the boy and the picture of the perpetrators. They were a little fuzzy, but Hannah McCoy knew her boy when she saw him.

"LEONARD HORATIO EDWARD DAVID MCCOY!" she called.

Leonard winced. He knew he was in trouble. Leonard was used when she wanted his attention. If she got to Horatio he knew he was in trouble. By the time she got to David he knew he was in for it. He descended the steps of the grand staircase of the huge mansion that his family occupied and came upon his livid mother. She was small statured at bare over five feet tall and very petite, but her wrath always made her seem larger than life. "Yes, Momma?" he asked

Hannah thrust the photo at her wayward son, "What is the MEANING of THIS?" she asked. "You and your FRIENDS," she stressed the word scathingly, "did this to that poor boy?" It wasn't a question.

"What makes you think that I was responsible for…" he never finished his question under his mother's perceptive glare.

"Oh, you did this, I can see your familiar backside right here. It's too bad your to big to put over my knee. First, you will apologize to the boy for doing this. Second, you'll right an essay on bullying and why it's not a good thing." She held up a hand to forestall his argument that what he did was harmless and not bullying. "You're father and Uncle Howard are representing several of the Tarsus survivors. You'll be meeting them and seeing, first hand, what bullying can lead to. That Kodos was a monster, I don't want you following in his footsteps!"

Leonard found himself on the next shuttle to San Francisco with his father and uncle. They talked solemnly about the upcoming litigation. Several survivors were suing the Federation for allowing such an obviously unstable individual as Kodos to head the colony. They were representing four of those who were pressing the litigation. Among them was a large man named Frank. Frank was a large man, and intimidating in his own way. He was very soft spoken as he spoke of his son and a girl that had come back with the boy.

"My son was beaten by the Governor, severely," unfortunately, Leonard tuned him out at this point, he stopped listening to a word he said. Frank looked at the boy with a frown on his face. "He doesn't get what's happened, does he?"

David looked at his son, concernedly, "No, he doesn't. He was caught bullying at school and we had hoped that this would help teach him a lesson."

"Give him to me," Frank said. "I won't hurt him, but I think I can teach him a lesson that you can't." David and Howard looked at each other, and reluctantly nodded at each other. Next thing Leonard knew he was being hauled out of room where they were meeting Frank and put in a car. Leonard didn't panic. His father wouldn't let anything bad happen to him, right?

"You think that nothing bad can happen to you, right? That your father will always protect you. I promised my son that he would always be safe as long as I had anything to say about it. I defended him against his abusive mother, and stood up for him when no one but Christoper Pike would. I sent him to Tarsus IV, to his father's sister, to protect him from his mother until I could get custody of him, and promised him that I would be back for him. I was, I did go back for him…" His voice trailed off as they reached a room. In that room lay a boy a few years younger than he. The boy lay on his stomach apparently sleeping. His back was covered in shiny covering. He could clearly see the marks on his back. A plastic barrier kept him from entering. A gown and other protective gear lay on the other side. "We have to don these protective items. Jim's immune system was compromised due to his neglected state. Go on, go in there and talk to him."

Leonard changed into the gear he was given. A mask covered his mouth and nose as well. He approached the bed, "Uh, hi."

Jim opened his eyes and looked at him, "Hi."

Leonard sat in the chair very gingerly, he wasn't prepared to be confronted by the horrors of what happened on a very distant planet, "You survived."

The boy sighed, "That's one way of putting it."

"How…how long will you be here?"

"They sat another eight months, I've been here about four months already," the boy sighed. "They'll seal my records no one will ever know I was on Tarsus IV."

"Why not?" Leonard asked. He knew, Jim was a minor.

"Because I saw his face before he killed my Aunt and her family," Jim replied. "I know what Kodos looks like."

They talked longer, this boy who was subjected to horrors that he should never have been. Leonard finally understood, Kodos had been a bully. He had used his power to kill nearly half the population just because he had decided they were unworthy. The thought that he could become just like him made Leonard shudder. He walked out and looked at Frank. The boy wasn't his son, yet he loved and treated him just like one. He knew where he had gone wrong.

Leonard returned home, quite sobered. He hugged his mother. "I'm sorry Momma, I won't do it again," he told her.

Hannah sighed, she wouldn't know for years how or who changed Leonard's mind. She was simply grateful that it happened.


	5. Changed

**Changed**

by Starsinger

**Sorry I've been taking so long on this chapter. Still working on those Valentine's Day Challenge fics. McCoy returns to Georgia with an entirely different perspective on life. Enter Uhura. Don't own them.**

Hannah McCoy observed her much more somber son as he entered the house. He walked over to a chair in the front living room and dropped into it staring off into space. "Mama, how could anyone do that to their population? The ones I saw today were just kids, and adults had beaten and starved them half to death!"

Hannah sat in a chair across from him, "The famine starved them, Leonard. The adults took what little was left and gave it to those deemed more worthy."

"And killed most of half of the population deemed unworthy, Mama," Leonard said quietly. Hannah closed her eyes. "I met this boy, today, only a few years younger than me. He'd been whipped, Mama, whipped because he refused to give away the location of the group of 'unworthies' that he was takin' care of. He'd been sent off Earth so his Stepfather, Frank, could take care of a few issues here at home, and JT could come back to a fresh start. Frank wishes he'd never done it." McCoy's face slipped into his hands and he started to cry. Hannah hadn't seen her son cry since his dog died three years ago of old age. She slipped onto the arm of his chair and wound her arms around him letting him cry.

The next day Leonard returned to school a changed man. The younger kids no longer feared him as he demonstrated that he would no longer tolerate bullying. The same kid who was strung up a flagpole found himself forcibly hauled behind Leonard one day as he loudly proclaimed that this would not happen on his watch. His friends were baffled at his sudden change, and one even tried to challenge his leadership. The resulting confrontation ended with two black eyes and a split lip for the challenger. Leonard took them home and showed them pictures of what he witnessed in San Francisco.

Leonard opened an e-mail from Frank: "Leonard, JT has gotten an infection, and it's bad. They've induced a coma. I'll keep you updated, Frank."

Leonard's friends looked at him as he showed the picture of what had been done to JT. They all shuddered. "Guys, we can't do this. If we continue like this, we'll become as bad as Kodos. I propose we set a new purpose. We become the 'Not on My Watch' squad. We stop bullyin' in its tracks. These kids can come to us if they see or sense trouble." He watched as the others looked at each other dubiously, "Come on! We're on the football team! Nobody's gonna mess with us!" Hannah looked on with pride as Leonard got the entire team involved in the squad. By the time he graduated, no one bullied without looking over their shoulders for the football team.

* * *

Nyota Uhura had been visiting San Francisco from her native Kenya. Her family felt the best way to learn other languages was to visit a place where many languages were spoken. She couldn't argue with that. She'd grown up in a small village in Kenya where her father was the tribal Chieftain, and, unfortunately, certain barbaric practices, like female circumcision, were still practiced. Her own father tended to send his female children away when they reached that age. He'd seen firsthand the damage inflicted by this practice and refused to have it happen to his children. He even married the only uncircumcised girl in the village, finding her more desirable than the others.

Nyota had two sisters and brothers, and now lived with her older sister in San Francisco, and absorbed the languages around her like a sponge. Nothing fascinated her more than the diverse population living and working in this great metropolis. Word went out that translators were needed for the Tarsus IV survivors, and she volunteered. She did not know what to expect, and was stunned when they led them through the ward containing the most terribly injured. She gasped at the site of a poor boy whose face had been half-ruined by a phaser. No one, and they were mainly children, on this ward was unmarked.

The volunteers were let loose on another ward to talk to the various survivors, and, hopefully, learn where they came from and if they had family elsewhere. Nyota decided to try out her Vulcan on a pair of children huddled in a corner. "_Hello,_" she tried.

The little boy looked up and relaxed, seeing another children, _"You speak Vulcan?"_

_"A little, I need practice. My name is Nyota. What is yours?"_

_"I'm Sedork, this is my sister, T'Mera. Our parents died on Tarsus IV. Can you find our cousins? They live on Vulcan."_

_"I can try. What are their names?"_

_"Ambassador Sarek and his son, Spock,"_ he responded. _"Please."_

_"I'll see what I can do,"_ Nyota promised. She approached an adult and told them what she had gleaned. The adult thanked her and she was asked to stay with them which she gladly did. Hours later a tall, stately Vulcan, and a much younger Vulcan, his son she supposed, strode into the ward.

"T'Mera, Sedork!" the man called. The two looked up and abandoned their solitude and ran for him. He knelt down in front of them, touching their faces, calming them down. He looked up at Nyota, "You were the one they talked to?"

"Yes, Ambassador," Uhura responded respectfully.

"Thank you," he replied. She watched as the Ambassador and his son took the hands of their cousins and led them away. Her sister smiled as she excitedly told her about her day.

"Nyota, you might want to think about Starfleet when you are old enough," Naya told her.

Nyota stopped, she'd never thought about Starfleet. Her sister definitely had a good idea.


End file.
